Flammability Tests of Alcohol/Gasoline Vapours

Experimental and Modeling Study of the Flammability of Fuel Tank Headspace Vapors from Ethanol/Gasoline Fuels, Phase 2: Evaluations of Field Samples and Laboratory Blends

“…Any given high-alcohol blend tends to produce flammable fuel tank vapors at higher (i.e., less cold) temperatures than pure gasoline. The extent of the difference, and hence of any increased risk, depends on composition of the gasoline part of the blend and how much gasoline is present in the fuel mixture [2][3][4][5]. It is therefore prudent to assess the extent of any differences in the fire hazards of fuel tank headspace vapors between gasoline and ethanol fuel blends.…”

Experimental and Modeling Study of the Flammability of Fuel Tank Headspace Vapors from High Ethanol Content Fuels

“…As shown by Vaivads et al [1], the fuel tank headspace vapors of gasoline and alcohol/gasoline blends are flammable at higher temperatures if there is less liquid fuel in the tanks. The 5% fill level was selected, in consultation with the project sponsor, to represent a worst-case scenario in terms of how low an automobile operator might allow the fuel level to become.…”

“…Published, well-recognized flammability data [16] and the LeChatelier mixing rule [17] were used to evaluate the resulting flammability of the vapor phase. Results were satisfactory, and it was shown that this method can be used to predict the hazards associated with fuel tank vapor/air mixtures [1,[12][13][14][15].…”

“…For confident use of these modeling techniques, the actual primer distillation data should be used to create the models [6,7]. The resulting alcohol blend models [1,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] will then be based on a faithful representation of their hydrocarbon components.…”

“…As a result, the content of the headspace above the liquid fuel in the tank can present a hazard at ambient temperatures much higher than required for their gasoline 20 counterparts. The fuel volatility model described above was therefore evaluated to determine if it could be used to reliably assess fuel tank hazards with various alcohol/gasoline blends [1,[12][13][14][15].…”